Use warm-up activities to prepare children, physically and psychologically, for more vigorous activity. Warm up with some easy aerobic activities that will gradually elevate the heart rate. Keep activities simple and move major joints (neck, shoulders, trunk, hip, knee and ankle) through their range of motion. Avoid deep stretching until muscles are warm. Flexibility can be improved by stretching during cool-down activities.
Cool-down activities focus on slow movements and stretching, allowing the heart rate to return to normal after vigorous activity. Use full body stretches to work on improved flexibility. Cool-down activities also help to prepare the children for the transition back into the classroom setting. Use the following activities to gradually slow down movement and provide a period of relaxation. Take long, slow, deep breaths during the cool-down.
Sample Warm-Up Activities
Moving on the Spot
- March on the spot or around the room; lift the knees high and perform a variety of arm actions while marching.
- Jogging: on the spot or around the room; slow pace, faster pace, touch heels to hands (behind back).
- Lift knees high in front; use accompanying arm actions.
- Jumping: feet together, slow, fast; while turning; make a square pattern; make a triangle pattern.
- Kicking: combine hop and kick forwards, sideways; with bent knee or straight leg; alternate legs.
Around the Room
- Hopping: one foot then the other, slow, fast.
- Skipping: around the room, change the lead leg.
- Galloping: around the room forwards, backward.
Bingo Warm-Up
- Skip or run around the gym to BINGO music (sing or play).
- When the dog’s name is spelled out slowly, children make shapes with their bodies:
B = stretched high and tall
I = wide
N = as low as possible, staying on feet
G = lying face down
O = rollover onto back - Children get up and start skipping again.
Animal Relays
- Partners stand on opposite sides of the gym.
- Choose two animals: One partner moves like a seal (or any other animal) to his or her partner, who moves like an alligator (or any other animal) back to the other partner’s spot.
- Pick any animal. One partner moves like any animal across the gym to his or her partner.
- The waiting partner guesses the type of animal then moves to the opposite side of the gym and back, moving like that animal. Children switch roles
Speedy Lines
- Children walk on the lines of the gymnasium. On a signal, children change directions, move to a new line or vary the type of movement.
Shake Your Sillies Out
- Children stand on the spot singing and shaking their arms and legs:
Shake, shake, shake your sillies out,
Shake, shake, shake your sillies out,
Shake, shake, shake your sillies out,
And wiggle your worries away. - Vary this each time by singing the song with different words and changing movements, for example:
Hop, hop, hop your sillies out,
Jump, jump, jump your sillies out,
Dance, dance, dance your sillies out...
Grab Bag Moves
- Children move around the gymnasium in their own space.
- Pull out a series of objects from a “grab bag”, e.g., rubber ball, toy train, animal puppets, airplane drawing.
- Children move around the room, moving like the object.
- Remind children to move in their own space and gradually increase speed and intensity as they warm up.
Popcorn
- Children move into a squat position, with head tucked in and arms wrapped over the head.
- Children pretend they are kernels of popcorn and that the pot is getting hotter.
- They begin to jump up and down on the spot when the “popcorn” begins to pop.
- Continue for 20 – 30 counts, rest, and then repeat.
Sample Cool-Down Activities
Side Arm Circles
- Marching on the spot, raise arms out from the sides of the body to shoulder height. Now slowly circle arms forward 8 –10 times and backward 8 – 10 times.
Circles in the Sky
- While marching on the spot, children raise arms overhead.
- Children pretend they are drawing circles in the sky. Children keep arms overhead and draw a variety of shapes.
Climb the Ladder
- Children stand with feet slightly apart.
- Move arms and legs up and down as if climbing a ladder to the sky.
- Climb a ladder for 20 – 30 steps.
On-the-Spot Follow the Leader
Choose a leader to lead some slow, cool-down movements:
- Walk on the spot, moving arms in a gentle swinging motion.
- Touch shoulders with hands, then reach up over head. Repeat five times.
- Skip slowly on the spot.
- Skip side to side.
- Jump or hop on the spot.
Slow March
- March slowly on the spot, keeping knees low and gently swinging the arms for 15 counts.
Skating on the Spot
- While standing on the spot, imitate a skating motion by extending the right then left leg away from the body at a back/side angle.
- Swing the arms.
- Continue this skating motion for 15 – 20 counts.
- Variation: children can “skate” around the gym either by pretending to have skates or by standing on scrap paper, and using the paper as skates.
Deep Breaths and Hug
- Slowly take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Repeat three times.
- Wrap arms around shoulders and give self a big hug and a pat on the back.
Low Kicks
- A variation of walking on the spot, with children alternating their feet in low forward kicks.
- Slowly swing arms by sides.
Tree in the Wind
- Stand with both arms overhead, feet placed wide apart, and knees slightly bent.
- Gently wave arms from side to side and forward like a tree in the wind.
Slow Leak
- Stand, arms circled over their heads, pretending to be a great big balloon.
- Pretend there is a hole in the balloon and the air is slowly leaking out.
- Move slowly downward to the floor, until the balloon has no more air.
Digging in Your Heels
- Stand with one foot forward, pressing heel into the floor and raising toes up.
- Continue this movement while alternating feet, swinging arms in a strolling movement.
Action Stories
Tell a story with actions that the children can do. Here are some theme suggestions:
- Rainstorm coming and then leaving, with fingers and hands tapping the floor in beat to the intensity of the rain.
- Walk through the forest, listening to the birds and the wind in the trees.
- Visit to a planet in outer space, exploring new terrain.
Strolling on the Spot
- Begin by standing on the spot. Stroll one step forward, then one step back, one step forward, then one step back gently swinging arms by sides. Do not raise arms above waist. Continue “strolling” on the spot for 20 – 30 counts.
Bubble Gum Game
- Children pretend to be a piece of bubble gum that is being chewed.
- Children expand like a bubble blowing up, then “pop”, the bubble breaks!
Body Shake
- Gently shake one arm, the other, both.
- Shake one leg, the other, both, head, hips, whole body.